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For
hundreds of years, puppets have been entertaining and instructing
young and old alike. At the IBM garden, they are up to their
old tricks. In three theaters on a terrace among the trees, the
mechanical actors set out to make us laugh -- and learn. Here,
in the Singular Case of the Plural Green Moustache -- complete
with Baker Street idioms and imported British accents -- Sherlock
Holmes unravels the mysterious disappearance of the Glasgow Express.
the great detective solves the crime through a simple set of
questions and answers, to the astonishment of faithful Dr. Watson.
| Holmes: |
Look at
this problem as a series of simple true or false statements. |
| Watson: |
Holmes,
this isn't catching us any railroad bandits! |
| Holmes: |
On the
contrary -- true or false, on or off, is or isn't, right or wrong
-- this two-sided logic can solve crimes, and a crime solved
is a criminal caught. |
The
Holmes-Watson dialogue proceeds to test whether or not three
railroad switchmen told the truth about the arrivals and departures
of the missing train. through a series of "yes-no"
questions, Holmes comes to the startling solution.
| Holmes: |
Then there
is only one remaining possibility -- all three statements were
false ... |
| Watson: |
Fantastic,
Homes. But why would all three railroad men have lied? |
| Holmes: |
Elementary,
my dear Watson. Did it not strike you that each of the three
was a man with a moustache of a singular green hue? |
| Watson: |
And the
leader of the Paddington mob is a man with a green moustache! |
| Holmes: |
Correct!
I suspect we shall have a visitor shortly -- |
And
sure enough, Holmes' deductions lead to the capture of the Paddington
mob and its leader. In explaining the solution to the amazed
Watson, the great detective points out that he used the same
simple logic that is used in programming a computer. Programmers
must tell a computer in great detail exactly how the machine
should process information logically. By following the programmer's
instructions, the computer can make a series of "yes-no"
decisions about each new batch of information it receives, so
that it can solve complex problems automatically and swiftly.
Across
the way another puppet theater is presenting "Computer Day
at Midvale." The townspeople have gathered to hear the mayor
dedicate Midvale's new computer. to many people -- including
His Honor -- the computer appears to have burst upon the scene
suddenly and confusingly. The mayor, somewhat given to oratorical
license, tries to explain the computer's importance, while his
oversimplifications are corrected by an expert who share the
platform with him.
Never
at a loss for words, the mayor triumphantly states at the end
that now he understands the computer is "awesomely simple,
marvelously complex, slowly programmed, incredibly speedy, shockingly
naive and highly sophisticated.
Meanwhile,
in a third theater still another play is under way -- "Cast
of Characters." The characters are the machines and the
many people of different skills that must be teamed together
to make an effective information-handling system. People, the
Narrator emphasizes, are the key to problem-solving -- "people
who can with intelligence and understanding interpret the output
of the machine in a way that is meaningful in our real-life situation
..."
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